Production

The purchase of raw materials such aswine is after the approval of a sample, in collaboration with the Purchasing department, the production and the quality control laboratory. Upon delivery, a control is carried out in order to verify the conformity with the approved sample.

The acid fermentation carried out is a continous immerged fermentation under the action of a biological agent : Acetobacter or Mycoderma Aceti. This fermentation is called immerged because the ferment is in suspension in the middle and it is continuous, since it does not stop and it consistsof a succession of decantations of transformed products and a recharging in raw material according to the legal criteria of vinegar.
Indispensable conditions for a correct acidic fermentation :
1 Presence of oxygen : the acetobacter is a large consumer of O2
2 Controlled temperature between 28 and 32°C
3 Sufficient nutritive substances in the environment

Reminder : The appellation "vinegar" is solely reserved for products obtained by the biological processus of the double fermentation, alcoholic and acid, of foodstuffs or beverages of agricultural origin or their diluted aqueous solutions.

Reaction : C2H50H + O2 => CH3COOH + H20
Notwithstanding the loss due to the vapours of alcohol and acidity, the reaction is said to be "one for one" : one degree of alcohol gives degree of acidity.
Therefore, a wine with 10° of alcohol permits the elaboration of a vinegar with 10° of acidity (high degree vinegar).

The vinegar exiting the double fermentation is cloudy. The "fining" is an operation that consists of incorporating into the cloudy vinegar a substance capable of becoming flaky and then to sediment, bringing with the fine particles in suspension. The vinegar is then purged of any large cloudy particles.

The filtration process is a general method of separating two phases : one solid phase (the impurities that provoke the cloudiness) and a liquid phase (vinegar), by a passage through a porus partition which constitues a filter and holds back the solid phase. By going through the filters the liquid becomes clearer.

There are 2 packing lines for glass bottles, both of which have practically an identical equipment :
An upturner : air blower, a volumetric filler, a capper (plastic caps, corks, or metal screw caps, depending on which line, ink jets, and packing in cardborad boxes or shrink wrap film.